A Sour End To The School Year

This year really ended on a sour note. Some of what I am about to say really sounds negative, but remember, part of the reason why we have this blog is to relieve stress. Okay, the story begins like this. All this year I have really thought I was going to get a type of job promotion. Then, towards the very end of the year, I found out that someone who I had thought was not after the position swooped down and got the job. Yeah, I know, poor me. Unfortunately, my family could have greatly benifitted from the added income. The second discouragement came at the end of the year as well. Having been hired to teach Chemistry and Physical Science, I have now been demoted to teaching General Science, the lowest level the school offers. I still have three sections of Earth Science, which I do enjoy teaching, but again, that is not what I was hired to do. Perhaps the worst part of the whole deal is that no one has ever told me that I am not doing a bad job. I was once told that I had just over 5% failures in one of my classes, and I had better do a better job if I wanted to keep my job (not exact words, but message was VERY clear). To that end, I shaped up and all my students passed. Much more could be said on this, but I'll leave that alone.

So, where does this all leave me? Well, I have been at this job for nine years now, and I have taken every opportunity to advance my education. I now sit high enough on the salary scale that many schools simply don't want to hire me for that reason. I was told this just today by a superintendent in a district that I was hoping to work in. Schools want to hire new people out of college, because they don't have to pay them very much. In my opinion, there is a good chance this is the reason why I have been demoted. The same type of thing is happening to other teachers who are even older than I am. The general feeling is that we are trying to get pushed out. What are my options? Well, I had an interview yesterday in a small school. Since I can't teach math or driver's education, I don't think I will get that job. I found out today that I didn't even get an interview in another place I was really wanting to go. There are some job fairs in North Carolina that I am thinking about going to. I hear they treat their teachers a little better in that state. Las Vegas is really needing teachers, but that is a little like Lot in the Bible, when he "pitched his tent toward Sodom." Of course, if you know the story, Lot made it out, but his wife turned to a pillar of salt. Hmmm, don't know if Amy would go for that. I might be able to teach underwater in New Orleans, or in the dark in Alaska. Or, of course, in East St. Louis, Chicago, or any other place that teachers don't go because of danger.

I've thought about going back to school. I did some research on what it would take to be a Medical Technologist. Basically, it would mean dragging my family through a really low time for way too long. I'm afraid most programs would be that way. Perhaps nursing would be a little quicker, and Rend Lake sure is pouring out nurses from their program. If it were just me and Amy, I would quit and go back to school to do something else. Not sure what, but something where I felt appreciated. I might even join the military.

Okay, I've had my pity party long enough. If anyone is still reading this, you should have found something better to do after the first paragraph. I'll end by giving a rather ironic bit of information. I picked up the newspaper today, and discovered that I came in second place for best teacher in this year's Best of the Best.

Memorial Day Weekend

This was a good weekend. On Saturday we had a huge rummage sale. Wow, that was an ordeal. We got up around 5:00am to get stuff ready. A special thank you to Rachel and JoAnne for helping. Sunday was a really busy day as well. I played bass at Orchardville, so I had to be there at 8:30am, which meant I had to leave around 7:30am. After church was over, I we had the family reunion to go to. I had to be back at church at 5:00pm for practice before the evening service. Today, Monday, we left early to go to St. Louis to look at music equipment with Bobby, Fred, and Kitty. Nena, Amy, Faith, and Cassidy all went the same direction to go to the zoo. Everyone had a wonderful time. I had the chance to look at several bass amps, and decided to go with one from a catalog instead. This evening we spent more time at Bobbys where Gary caught up with us. All in all, it was a WONDERFUL Memorial Day weekend. Too bad it is back to work tomorrow!

More Pictures

Here are some pictures. I thought I would post something quick. Things are extremely busy right now with finals. Cassidy and Callie are both getting big--wow, time goes by quick!

Two More Weeks of School Left!

So what has been going on this week? Well, this is truly the busiest time of the year. With school getting close to the end, I have a ton of things to do, and just not enough time to get them all done. I did find time this week for Survivor Night at Bobby’s house. That was exciting. And Amy and I went to look at fire pits. I know, doesn’t sound that interesting. Today (Saturday) was the men’s conference at the church. To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to it too much. I probably would not have went, but I was asked to help with praise and worship (bass guitar), so I ended up going. I was really glad I did. The speakers were really good, and the topics were good. The food was great! All in all, a rather enjoyable experience.

Amy and the children are spending the day with Nena and Faith. They were planning on going to the science center. They wanted to go to the zoo, but the weather is just terrible.

What else? Hmmm, Cassidy scored a perfect 100% on her pre-school screening the other day. We were happy about that. Of course, anything less would have been unacceptable (just kidding).

I’ve included a couple of pictures from the square foot gardens. The weather has been terrible, so they don’t look that good. Again, I hope to have more pictures in the future. Our connection speed at home is just so slow, it seems like it takes forever just to load these small ones.

People keep asking me what I am going to do this summer. The question is usually something like this, “So, what are you going to do with all your time off?” It is usually in a rather condescending tone of voice, which makes me want to say, “Probably sit on the couch and watch soap operas all day.” At that point I generally explain to them how I get laid off for 10 weeks, and how lucky they are to have a job that is not so seasonal. In actuality, I plan on working hard to get by blood pressure back to normal. Not that teaching causes high blood pressure, but stress does. I’m hoping for a stress-free summer. Yeah right!

Added: Here is a snake picture... dad didn't want to see it

Busy Time

This time of the year is really really busy! I hope to have some good pictures up in a few days if I get the chance. In the mean time, I took an online career test, and these are my results. You will notice that administration is rather far down on the list. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it makes me think a little more about going that direction. Something else that is interresting is Health Service--- #1 on the list. If I ever decide to switch jobs, maybe that would be the field for me.